I Used an Iron to Clean Red Wine Stains from the Carpet (Because TikTok Told Me To) — Here’s How It Went

I’m always a little leery of cleaning hacks on TikTok — especially the ones where people snap their fingers then show the beautiful “after” shot with a quick word on how it was accomplished. I want to know what happened in the middle! Was it difficult? How much did you sweat? Did that cleaning agent really work, or are you just making that sweet SponCon cash? So when I saw this method using an iron to “get red stains out of carpet,” I decided to test it out.

First, I collected the necessary supplies: I unearthed my iron and filled it with enough water for steaming (distilled wasn’t specified so I just used tap!), grabbed a white tea towel, and stuck a nozzle on the newly delivered bottle of Red 1 stain remover. We were fresh out of Ocean Spray cranberry juice (what’s used in the TikTok), so I opted for some very fancy Winking Owl from Aldi. With a carpet sample in hand, I spilled a little wine, let it sit for about three minutes, then got to work.

Here’s how things looked after three minutes. 

I sprayed the area with a good amount of Red 1 then promptly opened all the windows in my kitchen and turned on the ceiling fan because woof — it smelled awful!

Next, I folded a white tea towel, laid it over the stain, and began steaming it in five-second intervals. 

I went over the stain three times, laying a clean side of the towel down each time, then I let the carpet cool (it was super hot and I didn’t want to melt it!). I expected to see that vibrant red-violet color on the towel as the stain lifted, but was surprised to see it was a darker neutral color. It reminded me of the chemical change that happened when I treated a different red wine stain with ammonia. The presence of ammonia would definitely explain the powerful smell! 

I repeated the process three more times until finally nothing came up on the white towel.

Did this process get rid of the stain? I’m happy to report it did! The presence of steam heat working together with professional-grade carpet cleaner was a perfect (very smelly, potentially dangerous if inhaled/consumed) match! However, I will say that, when I first saw the TikTok video, I thought the hack could be done with just water. So I was a little bummed to learn that it called for a special cleaner — a special cleaner that most of us probably don’t have on hand. But I will say that this legit worked. So if you have clumsy people in your home (or you are a clumsy person), it’s worth keeping a bottle of this stuff around. And I do plan on trying this iron/towel trick with a commercial carpet cleaner, too.

How do you usually deal with red wine or juice stains?